Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-03-25

WHICH HE DEFINES AND hhf hNbN ihN T.
MAIN FEATURES or THE MEAsuRE-THE .
PROHIBITION OF POoGlNG IT'S ONLY BAD .
FEATURE IN his OPINION,
Attn dinner of the Boston commercial
club, held last Saturday evening. MIR. Charles
Francis Adons. no,y president of the Union
Pacific railroad mud for ten yenrs before his /.
election TO that office chairman of the Mass
achusetts inilrond commission. mude an al
dress on the interstate commerce bill. which
is now the Lending topic of discussion in rail
rond and business circles. In opening. Mr.
Adams said that the railroads must remem-
Der, in their treatment Of the new law, that
they are the creatures Of the state and as
such subject to its laws. lie had no hesita-
ton i'm snyiup TINT il is for the interest of
the companies to rive this law "a full. fair
and honest trial" Either. it is a good law
or il is not a good law. His own impression
was that it would be found like most mortal
things-n mixture of good and bad. But
even if it proves to be wholly bad, AS some
have claimed, the surest way 10 secure its
repeal is Gen. Grants wav-to faithfully
1 [. u
public discussion which began 20 years ago
We know its origin aud historical develop
ment we know what the legislatures have
meant bv their enactuouts ou this subject
we know the will of the people which lies
behind it. Speaking. therefore. for my
self" Mr.. Adams continued, 81 will say
at once that the order given. both to the
legal and to the operating departments Of
the Union Pacific. has been that a fair hon
est, intelligent and reasonable expression
should he given to every provision Of the in
terstate commerce act: that it should be
fully and fairly carried into effect, and the
results left to speak for themselves. And
this. it seems to me. should be the position
of all the railroads in the country"
The speaker then referred to his term of
of service ON the Massachusetts railroad
commission, and said that it had been often
thrown in his face that he was ON one side
nr tho ,,uastinn ns a rnilrnad commissioner
,I...,i.. .,;I,.,,.I ,.,...-;.l.,,,,
, ,n,' VI, '''' '','''
lh's 'hu'ee' he Na'"' wa ""' !" any 'eE' ''
true. He well knew that abuses existed
with the grn,,tb of the. system of railroad
;u- rrt,.,. ..., %, ,,o,., If ,l,,..y,.-t.,,, ,rl
~.
Il ne 'r''" S'"s'e "".'''' ' uP,"'' "'',
violently and suddenly, he would SIMPLY
| have shown that he was not fit for the posi-
ton i'm which he was placed. The process
/ ,r ..h,u,,. tain. ba,ltlr. must always Lr
| ..ri...
''" '"'''
ana every "al since nave "e''' lreS''''"'
| of Il railroad company, he sand, II nave
| zone ON. and zone ON from necessity. seeing
| fins. obnses Ind denounced prnctice,l uu
,,l ,.., ,.,.,,..,l. e., I,..oi than,
"'' III, -,
'ept SLOWLY ana a'tlI's III concert VIII" W"
ers. do not believe the Nngcan stable
were clcauscd in a day, and am no Hrrcu
L.. either
Er..,,, ,l,;. ,,oi,t Mr. Ad,,ns ,,.,..,d,1 +,
=, 1t.
uiS'u9S ~ i'"'"7 '''' ''''' VIVA '''''-
features ot the new interstate law
But, leaving all this and coming down t.
immediate questions connected with the in
terstate commerce bill, there are three flea
lures of that bill which excite special com
ment These are, first, what is known "a
the long and short haul second, the prnhi
|
arrangements with shippers; third, tn
prohibition of pooling. think may "a.
that. as railroad commissioner, was almos
the father of what is known AS the long am
short haul clause. have always maintain
ed that the uncontrolled competition of rail
roads was IA great evil 1t had the necessa
nv tendency of concentrating business a
given points and in few hands The gee
| graphical point which did not hive the adj
vantage of railroad competition could no
hold its own against the point which iii
have that advantage. So. also, the ma
who controlled small business could ne
hold his own against the man who control
ed "A large business. The traffic of the larg
shipper would AWAY. be sought for q
term, more advantageous than the sInalle
shipper could command. Asa commission
er. always maintained that this was wrong
as a railroad president / maintain it is wrou
today. Therefore ! am 10y no means pre-
pared to admit that the interstate commcrc
bill is likely 10 produce any serious or iniu
rious results when it says that no rairoa
company shall charge more for lungt
haul than it does for a shorter haul whic
is included in the longer haul under cond
tions substantially the same. lwant to st
: this provision of the act brought into pra,
4 is substantially just, and where a thing
substantially Just it is right, and where it
right it should be law But it is unnecessar
20 say that the whole question will come u
for decision ON the scope to he given
those five words under conditions SUI
stantially the same In them there
much labor cut out for the commission, nj
| they are big with litigation for the cour
and fees for the lawyers
As respects the next debated provisio
that prohibiting rebates, drawbacks aud :
cret arrangements, | do not hesitate to pl
myself ON record as saying that this
right. and should he law and if it has n
been law before | am glad it is now.
one has suffered more than the railroa
- themselves from this system of rebates al
drawbacks and secret arrangements. 1t h
: been a crying wrong. 1t should have bee
remedied years ago 1t is well it is abo
10 be remedied now.
And ~ one phase of this question com
up the matter of free passes. As respec
e them have long been on record. | he
r. that the free-p system ON the railroa
r of this country is an outrageous abuse, al
a that the most radical remedy should be a
ulied to il. / think, if the most radio
remedy were applied, nothing but 90
would flow therefrom. How absurd it
that whole classes of persons should habit
ally travel for nothing, while others d
}, compelled to pay. Neither would any |
man being find fault with positive pro
rs bition of the system Of free transportati,
ar Provided every one knew that his neighl
mr. .. Ill ~. I,;,,so1F mama ,,,ulI Ii